by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $12.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Intro:
… more a scattershot of pebbles than a well-aimed stone …
After landing a decent hit with their first animated venture The King of Kings (and being in various depths of hot water over their business practices with other studios, including Slingshot Productions on this very feature), Angel Studios are already back at it with another 3D offering, this time a musical version of the story of the Biblical David. For the time being, we shall forego any allegorical readings to do with whether the producers behind all this are the David or Goliath of their own story, and just look at the film as is. And the film as is, is actually pretty decent.
David’s visuals are a noticeable upgrade from those found in The King of Kings. The adherence to more naturalistic lighting and colour palettes lend themselves well to the framing of nature from David’s perspective, as this wondrous exhibition of the beauty of God’s creation. The lighting really pops in certain sequences, like David’s shadow-haunted retreat from Israel under false accusations; considering the use of light as divine metaphor in the song accompaniments, the visuals match the grandeur of the lyrical intent.
As for the music itself, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. The incidental soundtrack from composer Joseph Trapanese shows him to be effective with soundscapes, but the proper musical numbers are incredibly uneven. The lyrics from Jonas Myrin are straight-down-the-middle CCM platitudes that are so spiritually vague that they only occasionally line up thematically with what is actually happening on-screen, feeling like they were designed more for the choir than for the audience. But beyond the words, the musical backing from the Budapest Film Orchestra makes for a good blend of blockbuster-aspiring strings and more regional instrumentation.
That, and the singers do a damn good job with their delivery. Both Brandon Engman and Phil Wickham as the younger and older David respectively, do justice to the notes while also letting organic theatrical prose come through to help sell this as a story where people can and will burst into song of their own volition. Miri Mesika as David’s mother Nitzevet is not far behind, serving as both a solid accompaniment to the future King’s own songs, as well as adding to the emotional weight of song as an element of the story itself.
Outside of the singing, the cast is great: Asim Chaudhry as the moustache-twirling King Achish is fun, Kamran Nikhad as the mountainous Goliath leans into the Kratos-esque character design and maltheism to make for a commanding and threatening presence, and Adam Michael Gold as the Israelite king Saul is great at portraying the power-mad conspiratorial mind on the throne.
David is more a scattershot of pebbles than a well-aimed stone, but it still makes for decent entertainment. The performances are good, the animation doubly so, and while the music in this musical can vary an awful lot in terms of quality and efficacy, it melds itself well enough to the central story of faith and fighting against unjust rule. It’s admittedly somewhat surreal watching a literal song-and-dance about ancient Israeli politics, given the everything happening in the modern day, but as an animated Bible dramatisation, it’s alright. Not the most divine thing to exist, but still alright.
